One Night in Bryndafon
by CantThinkaNuffin
Summary: Aliens attack the team in separate locations, causing injury, mayhem and humor along the way. No real serious pairings, but implied Jack/Ianto and attempted Jack/Gwen. Rated T for language. Sorry I had to make it all one chapter!


This story is set after Adam but before Reset in Series/Season 2.

Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood or any of its characters, but I do like to borrow them for a bit sometimes. I own the alien. It's mine, all mine, for whatever it's worth.

****************************

_Oh, great,_ thought Jack as he plunged deep into the frigid water. He thought he'd escaped the fall as he saw the damage he'd done with the high-powered shot – the creature wasn't going to live very long with that size of a hole in its upper body. Jack had underestimated its strength, though, and the recoil from the shot he'd taken had knocked him off-balance to begin with, so it was an easy swing with its remaining upper limb for the creature to send him over the side. His arm and side stung where the tentacle had contacted him, but the greatcoat wasn't there only to make him look good – it offered quite a bit of protection from random hits. He knew that the creature was falling, too, and he hoped that the combination of missing body parts and a long fall into cold water would do it in.

He'd died before by drowning, but this time seemed a bit more likely to be final. The undercurrent from the hydroelectric intake sluice was pulling him down and there was nothing he could do about it. He hoped that the filter grate was still in place. He really didn't want to find out if he was immortal enough to live through being fed into the electricity generation systems below. He didn't want to end up in a million tiny pieces.

There wasn't enough light in the water for him to see more than a few inches in front of him as he sank – _No,_ he thought, _I'm being_ _pulled_ – toward the intakes. He didn't know what to expect, but he kept himself face down, just in case the filter grate was there – he figured he'd rather have the chance to see what was coming before he died than to drown by the sheer pressure of the downward-flowing water being forced into his lungs.

Even so, he wasn't prepared for the force with which he slammed into the grate that covered the sluice entry. He hit it hard enough to force more of the precious air from his lungs and felt the bite of the metal against his face as he was pushed against the grate by the sheer weight of thousands of cubic metres of water trying to enter the hydroelectric plant. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable darkness to come as he felt his air supply dwindle and the water pressure begin to crush him further into the grate.

*********************************

"No!" Ianto heard the shout, but wasn't at all sure if he'd said it or if the word had come from Gwen. They both rushed to the side rail of the walkway and peered into the near-darkness, trying to make out any sign of Jack or the creature.

"Do you see anything, Ianto?" The question came from Gwen.

"No, but I don't expect to. There are 18000 cubic metres of water in this reservoir and they feed into the hydroelectric system through a series of flow gates in the side of the dam. I expect that Jack and the creature have both become trapped in the current and the only way we'll get them back is by shutting the intake valves and dredging."

Gwen stared. Maybe Ianto did know everything. He had scarcely finished his sentence when an idea came to her. She pulled out her mobile phone. "Andy? It's Gwen. I need a big favour."

On the other end of the phone, Andy sighed. Gwen knew that he'd do anything for her. "What now? Stop the world and let off all the fools?"

"I only wish it were that simple. I need you to call Welsh Water and ask them to shut down the intakes on…Ianto, where are we?"

"Bryndafon Reservoir,"

"Shut down the intakes on Bryndafon Reservoir."

Andy looked incredulously at the phone. "Any other mountains you want me to move tonight?"

"Well, now that you mention it, we need a police dive boat up here. Sooner would be better than later."

Andy sighed again, exasperated. "Are you joking? It's going to be fully dark soon. No way we'll get a dive boat out there tonight. What's the matter? You got some alien or something stuck down the drain?"

Gwen's eyes welled with tears. "Not exactly."

Andy could hear the sorrow in her voice. "I'll do the best I can."

Gwen and Ianto made their way back toward the SUV. They were determined not to leave the dam, in case Jack – or the alien – resurfaced. Gwen glanced at Ianto. "I've gotta call Rhys."

Ianto nodded and moved off to give her some privacy. "I'll update Tosh and Owen."

Gwen smiled back weakly, then rang the number from her mobile's memory. Rhys answered on the third ring. "Hello?"

"Rhys, love, it's me."

"Who's that then? Betty? Alice? Viv?"

Gwen fumed silently. She wasn't in the mood, but she tried to keep her voice calm. "There's been a bit of an accident at work and I won't be home until tomorrow, I think."

Rhys suddenly sobered. He liked the people at Torchwood, despite his better instincts. He was even beginning to like Jack. "Oh. Sorry, love. Everybody OK?"

Gwen sniffed. "Not exactly, but we won't know for sure until tomorrow morning how badly hurt he is." She tried not to give anything away. "I can't really say much more. I'm sorry. I love you, Rhys." She cut the call short and turned back toward Ianto, who was still on the phone with Tosh.

"Alright, Tosh, thanks. We'll be here if you need us." Ianto finished the call and turned to Gwen, who stood slightly to one side of him, staring into the growing darkness. "Tosh is going to see if she can pick up the signal from Jack's wristband so we have a better idea where to look. Owen's still working on autopsying the other creature. I told Tosh that we'd stay out here tonight."

Gwen nodded, still staring. Suddenly she turned toward Ianto, terror in her eyes. "Has Jack ever died somewhere where there was nowhere for him to recover?"

Ianto reflected for a moment, sadness sweeping over him. "I don't know, Gwen. I think you know him far better than I do, whatever our…situation," he answered candidly.

"Oh. I'm sorry, Ianto." Gwen moved away uncomfortably, heading back toward the edge of the dam nearest the SUV. She sat down on the grass and crossed her legs, returning to staring into the now full darkness. Some part of her expected Jack, dripping wet and grinning, just to appear out of the reservoir – she had a mental image of him rising from the water, holding a bazooka in one hand like some warped Lady of the Lake, and she burst out laughing.

Ianto came to stand beside her. "Something funny?"

Gwen dissolved into a fit of giggles as Ianto's question triggered yet more mad Arthurian images in her mind. She covered her mouth with one hand and looked up at him, trying to recover enough composure to answer. "Not really," she finally managed. "I just had this mad series of images run through my head that started with Jack being a Lady of the Lake and going downhill from there."

The corners of Ianto's mouth turned up slightly at the idea, and he sat down on the grass beside Gwen. He pulled out a few blades of grass and began braiding them together deftly. Gwen watched in silence as he added more grass and the braid got longer. After only a few minutes, he tied a knot with the two ends and placed the circlet on her hair. She looked at him quizzically. "One of the maids of Avalon," was all he said.

She leaned against him and he slid his arm around her shoulders. They stared into the night, sitting watch in a vigil for the man they both loved.

******************************

Owen threw his lab coat down on the bench and sat backwards on the chair nearest Tosh. "I'm not getting anywhere," he announced in disgust. "Nothing about this thing looks familiar, it's not in our databases, I haven't found one thing about it that anyone seems to have seen before."

Tosh turned toward him. "Jack's fallen into Bryndafon Reservoir with the other creature. Ianto thinks it's dead, but both it and Jack disappeared and haven't resurfaced yet. I'm trying to home in on Jack's wristband, but there's a lot of interference and I haven't been able to pick it up with any certainty yet. Ianto and Gwen are staying at the reservoir tonight to keep watch."

Owen's face adopted its usual expression of annoyance. "Well, that's bloody typical, isn't it? Torchwood faced with something it's never seen before and Harkness disappears. I guess we're here all night, then. Want a pizza?"

*****************************

They had sat for an hour, each thinking silent thoughts, when suddenly Ianto said, "It's gone quiet. The water's off."

Gwen started at the sound of his voice after so long in silence. "Praise be to Andy and whoever's on duty tonight at Welsh Water, then." She stood and walked to the water's edge, looking out over the surface of the reservoir, waiting.

Ianto rose and went to join her. He slid his arm around her again as she shivered, drawing her close. They had become closer after Jack's last disappearing act and had grown to rely heavily on each other's knowledge and abilities. Ironically, it seemed that their mutual feelings for Jack had driven them together, rather than apart. Ianto was pretty sure that Gwen knew Jack's past – and present – better than anyone else, but there were some things that he was equally sure she didn't know. He glanced down at her in the faint light from the sliver of moon above them and thought, _I know that he loves you, and I know why, and times like this serve to remind me that you don't know – and help me understand how you made him human again_. He emerged from his reverie to find Gwen staring up at him. "What?"

"Quid for your thoughts? Yours are usually worth a lot more than a penny."

Ianto chuckled, then turned melancholy. "I was just thinking about something Jack said to me recently." At the puzzled look in her eyes, he continued, "About you." He stopped speaking abruptly, gaze travelling over the water.

"And?"

"Gwen, do you see something out there?"

"Where, Ianto…no, wait, I do see something…I wonder…"

Just as Gwen began to wonder aloud, a tentacle broke the surface. "Oh, shit," was all Ianto said before breaking into a run back toward the SUV, towing Gwen by the hand.

*********************************

"Tosh, you there?" Tosh heard the voice in her ear.

"Yes, Ianto, we're here. No luck so far on the wristband, I'm afraid."

"Never mind that, we've got a problem. That thing's still alive."

Owen joined the conversation. "I haven't found out anything about its friend yet, but I'll get right back on it." He rose and raced back to the autopsy bay to continue his investigations, only to find that the subject of his study had gone. "Time for us to go, Tosh! Ianto, we'll be leaving the Hub now."

"No, Owen, wait," cautioned Tosh, "we can scan for it if we stay here."

"Yeah, well, we can also get eaten."

She shot him a dirty look. "What did you find out about it? I can calibrate the scanners to search for whatever you can give me."

"The samples I got from it were high in copper, but I haven't found much else I can analyse. It's almost like a cross between and slug and a jellyfish, only with big, nasty teeth and a helluva sting in the tentacles."

Tosh hastily reset the scanners to search for copper within the levels of the Hub, while Owen parked himself in front of the CCTV screens, searching for anything that might give its presence away.

"Ianto, there are lots of hits here on copper. What's in the storage room in vault five?"

Ianto consulted his mental map of the base, "An old electricity coil, been there for ages. Try somewhere else."

Tosh made several more suggestions, but Ianto answered each one negatively. "I'm running out of hits, here, Ianto. Maybe…"

Suddenly Owen shouted, "Shoulda left when we had the chance, Tosh! Get upstairs!" Owen saw the slug on the CCTV that showed the main workspace. Where had that come from? He began firing as it approached them rather more rapidly than the average garden slug, meanwhile trying to push Tosh up the stairs to Jack's office. Tosh's earpiece clattered to the floor and bounced down the stairs, out of sight.

The slug roared as each bullet disappeared into it, but appeared to suffer no damage from the impacts. Owen slammed the door to Jack's office, knowing that it wouldn't take long for the thing to get in. "I'll never eat escargot again."

**********************************

They had reached the SUV before Owen had spotted the slug in the main office, and Gwen was helping Ianto sort through the weapons in the back when two thoughts occurred to her almost simultaneously. She turned to Ianto and was about to speak when she realised that he had climbed out of the back and was shouting, "Tosh? Tosh? You there?" He turned to Gwen. "No comms."

"Ianto, I have an idea." She pulled the jump leads out of the car spares kit and turned to find Ianto staring at her, one eyebrow raised. "Owen said it was like a cross between a slug and a jellyfish, right?" Ianto nodded, the eyebrow climbing slightly higher, and Gwen continued, "So, I don't know much about jellyfish, but I know that there are three things slugs don't like – salt, gravel, and copper. I don't know that we've got anything in the SUV made of any of those things – other than these." She brandished the leads.

Ianto built on Gwen's statement. "We need to get it to come to us." He rummaged in the back for a moment, coming up with a quite ordinary-looking shotgun. "Gravel we can get – there's plenty on the road, and there's a rock salt box a little way back." He dug a bucket out of the seemingly not-quite-random pile of stuff in the back of the SUV. "Get about half a pail's worth."

He handed Gwen the bucket and she turned to go, then paused. "What will you be doing?"

"Trying to get its attention, what else?"

************************************

Owen stood about ten feet from the door, waiting. Tosh sat at Jack's desk, trying to come up with a solution to their problem. "What else did you find out?"

"I told you," he replied petulantly, "not bloody much!" He continued staring at the door.

Tosh sighed. She could see that she would have to work this out on her own. She looked around the office. It figured that they would end up in the least technologically advanced room in the Hub. She felt out of her element – Jack almost seemed to keep this room as a defence against the rest of the Hub, it was so anti-tech. Suddenly she had an idea. "Owen, I need your help." She pulled Jack's desk lamp from the wall socket and yanked on the lead, but it failed to come out. "Got anything sharp enough to cut this?"

Owen was still wearing his lab coat and produced a scalpel from one of the pockets. "This do?"

She took it from him, smiling, and began surgically removing the lead from the lamp. "I want to electrocute it," she answered to his unasked question.

"Ah. It's copper, so it will conduct well. Good idea." As Owen finished his sentence, the door began to creak, and a slimy puddle began to ooze from underneath it. "Best hurry, though."

"This lead's not long enough to reach the door from the socket. What else can we use as a conductor?"

"How much short is it?"

"Um, about half a metre," Tosh replied.

The puddle oozed further into the room. "Plug in the lead and lay it out. I want to see exactly how much."

Tosh did as Owen asked and the door began to bulge inward. "See, still a bit short."

"Tosh, stand back, and don't get any ideas." He pushed her away from the door as it creaked further into the office, its hinges straining. He turned his back to her and she heard the unmistakeable sound of him unzipping his fly.

"Owen, this is hardly the time to…" she broke off as the door burst open at the same time as Owen began to pee quite forcefully toward the creature. Suddenly there was a flash of electricity surging through it, illuminating it so that it had a translucent blue glow. It screamed, and Tosh covered her ears, shutting her eyes too, as if to block the sound that way. A few seconds later, there was silence, and she opened her eyes in time to just glimpse Owen tucking himself back in. She took a deep breath. "Owen…thanks." Tosh blushed and looked at the floor.

Owen ruined the illusion of being a gallant and gracious hero with his reply. "Yeah, well, just don't get too used to it. Never happen again." He stepped over the spreading puddle of ooze and headed down the stairs, leaving Tosh alone with the smoking heap that had once been an alien creature.

***********************

Gwen found the box marked SALT/GRIT-HALLTA/GRUD about half a mile away and prayed that it still held what it said despite the fact that it wasn't winter. She threw open the lid and dug her hands in, throwing double handfuls into the bucket. The sound of shouting punctuated with occasional loud bangs caused her to hasten her shovelling, and soon the bucket was more than half full. She slammed the lid of the box and raced back in the direction of the SUV.

As she got closer to it, the shouts became louder. Whatever Ianto was doing certainly had got the creature's attention. She spotted him running down the slope toward her, and stopped in her tracks. "Give me the bucket!" he shouted, the slug getting ever closer.

Gwen handed him the pail and watched as he filled the shotgun with the salt and gravel mixture. He glanced at her as he raised it to his shoulder. "This is going to ruin this gun." He squeezed the trigger and the rock salt exploded out the end of the gun and into the creature's chest. It screamed in response and Gwen noted that it had already started to grow a new limb to replace the one that Jack had blown off. She idly wondered just exactly how much of it could re-grow.

The slug lurched toward them as Ianto poured more rock salt into the gun, and Gwen subconsciously stepped back, away from the heaving mass of slime. "Ianto, it's getting closer."

"Thanks for the update, more news as events warrant." Ianto sounded stressed, something that rarely happened, and Gwen knew that he must be really worried. "Hungry? Have more of this, then," he quipped as he pulled the trigger again.

Again the slug screamed, and Gwen covered her ears. She was glad that she hadn't been indoors to hear that sound – it was almost painfully loud outdoors. Her thoughts turned to Owen and Tosh, still in the Hub with the other creature, and she hoped that they were alright. Suddenly her phone began to ring. She ignored it for a few seconds, then thought that it might be Tosh and decided to answer. "Yah?" she said into the phone, not bothering to check who it was.

"Gwen, it's Tosh. We're OK."

"Glad to hear it, but we're a little busy right now." Ianto fired the gun again.

"We electrocuted it."

"What?"

"The alien. We electrocuted it."

Gwen grinned as the image of the jump leads popped into her head. "Tosh, you're amazing. I've gotta go!" She ended the call and shouted, "Ianto, I'm going for the SUV!" She raced back up the hill, slipping on the grass that had become wet with dew and slime, and climbed into the SUV, releasing the hand brake and letting it drift slowly and silently toward the creature.

She stopped not far from the giant slug and applied the hand brake again, leaping out the driver's door and running to the back of the vehicle, hoping that Ianto had put the leads back inside when she went to get salt. She found them quickly and popped the hood, then attached the leads to the battery.

"Ianto, back this way! Ianto!" she shouted, but he was too involved in distracting the slug from her to notice. The slug took some notice, though, and turned toward the small, noisy figure that was closer to it. Gwen was shocked at its speed as it lurched toward her, reaching her in two quick movements, and was unable to get her right leg out of its way fast enough to avoid the tentacle that caught it just below the knee. The pain was unbelievable and she screamed, falling toward the SUV and just managing to get her leg inside the door. She slammed the door and the slug wailed as the tentacle that was still attached to her separated from the rest of its body.

The pain from the sting was almost unbelievable, but adrenaline had taken over and that, coupled with the image of Ianto being killed if she didn't succeed gave Gwen the will to continue. She managed to start the SUV and inch it closer to the slug as Ianto watched in a mixture of fear and amazement. She ran the SUV into the slug, and the jump leads swung forward into its bulk, illuminating it in a blue glow. It howled in pain, and Ianto cringed, dropping the shotgun and covering his ears. Gwen stared, aghast, then passed out from the combined pain of the scream in her head and the poison in her leg.

******************************

Ianto stood in the open door of the SUV, deciding on his next step. "Tosh, it's Ianto. I need Owen!"

Tosh flicked a switch and Owen answered on speakerphone, "Yeah Ianto, what can I do for you?"

Ianto's stressed voice answered, "It's Gwen. She's passed out. The creature grabbed her leg and some of the tentacle is still wrapped around her leg."

Owen winced. "How long has it been on her?"

There was a pause. "I…I don't know. Maybe two or three minutes? She saved my life." Ianto fell silent, thinking, _Jack will kill me if she gets hurt._

"OK, Ianto. Can you get the tentacle off her leg?

"I'll try." Ianto took off his jacket and wrapped his hands in it, gingerly taking hold of the tentacle and tugging on it to loosen it, taking care not to touch the stinging cells, which all seemed to be on the side touching Gwen's leg. Gwen stirred, obviously still in pain, her face a mask of agony. After a few minutes, Ianto had removed all that he could see of the tentacle. "Done, Owen." Ianto wiped sweat from his brow. Medicine was not his strong suit.

"Have you got the med kit yet?"

"Um, yes."

"Good. Find the toxicology kit and take out the red and blue vials."

"Done," Ianto replied.

"Now find the syringe and load it with 10cc's of red and 25cc's of blue."

"What will that do?"

"Well, without having a sample from your creature, and going only on what I got from the one here, I can only guess that it will help counteract the poison."

"Ah. Best guess, then." Ianto loaded the syringe as directed, then spoke into his earpiece again. "Where do I give the injection?"

"It's an intravenous injection, I'm afraid. How are your vein-finding skills tonight?"

Ianto shuddered. They all had first aid and basic triage skills, but he was shaking so much that he wasn't sure he'd even hit Gwen, let alone a vein. "Give me a few minutes," he responded. He cut the comms, closed his eyes and leaned back against the SUV, breathing deeply. After several breaths, he was ready to try.

He eased Gwen's arm carefully from her jacket, wedging her wrist between his elbow and ribs. He tapped at the veins in the crook of her elbow and held the syringe up, closing his eyes and taking another deep breath. He opened his eyes, tapped her arm again, and carefully inserted the needle, pushing the plunger down and watching as she stirred a bit, pain etched across her features. When the antivenin was gone, he withdrew the needle, released the breath he'd forgotten he was holding, and slid her arm back into her jacket.

Ianto tapped his earpiece again. "OK, all done. What now?"

"Have you given any painkillers?"

"No, not sure what or how much to give," Ianto responded.

Before Owen had time to answer, Gwen's eyes shot open and she lurched out the door of the SUV, falling heavily into the mud. Ianto leaned over to help her up, and she threw up on his legs and feet.

"Think I'll be burning this suit," Ianto mused, grimacing. "Better?" He picked her up and helped her back into the driver's side of the SUV.

Gwen smiled weakly in response. "Sorry," she managed to answer, wiping the mud and vomit from her face. She cringed and clutched at her leg. "Hurts," she moaned, eyes filling with tears.

Ianto tapped his earpiece again. "Owen, you still there?"

"Yes, Tea-boy."

"Gwen's awake and in pain. Suggestions?"

"If you can get some painkillers and water into her, she might feel better."

Ianto poked through the med kit, searching for fast-acting painkillers. He found what he wanted, and opened a bottle of water, then turned back to Gwen. "Gwen? I've got painkillers for you."

She opened one eye and mumbled, "Ianto, I feel like utter shite. Mother of all hangovers, and somebody's burned a hole in my leg."

A small smile crept onto Ianto's face. "Try these, then. Maybe you'll feel better." He handed her the painkillers and helped her with the bottle of water. Satisfied that she had swallowed the analgesic, he suggested that she get some sleep. "Do you want to lie down in the back seat, Gwen?"

"Will you sit with me, Ianto?"

The look on her face was so pleading and pained that Ianto couldn't help but answer yes, and a few minutes later he was cuddling her as she slept in the back of the SUV.

**************************

Jack's eyes popped open and he coughed. _Mistake,_ he thought, as he felt water flood his lungs again. He noticed during his brief consciousness that the pressure against him had eased, but he still wasn't strong enough to escape whatever was holding him to the intake grill. _Wonder how long I've been here…and is it going to find me and finish me off? _As darkness crept into the corners of his vision again, he thought, _Must try again next time._

­********************************

Gwen woke with a start. It was still dark, and her leg felt like it was on fire. She felt as if she were trapped, then realized that the arms around her waist belonged to a sleeping Ianto Jones. She smiled briefly, then gently lifted one of his arms enough that she could get out of the SUV. She closed the door quietly, carefully avoiding the puddle of dead thing on the ground as she stepped away from the Range Rover.

As she limped toward the dam, she wondered what had woken her. She couldn't recall dreaming anything, but bad dreams were an occupational hazard among Torchwood staff, and she shrugged it off.

When she reached the shoreline, she sat on a convenient rock and stared out over the water. The moon illuminated the entire surface of the reservoir, but she could see nothing unusual to break the mirror-like water. She turned her eyes to the sky and said a silent prayer to whoever was listening that Jack would come back as he always had before, then returned to gazing across the glassy lake. As she did, she saw something bob to the surface to her left and about 40 metres away.

She stood unsteadily, wobbling a bit as her injured leg tried again to support her weight. As she watched the floating object drift, she wondered what it might be. It was too far away to see it well, and the moon wasn't bright enough to show detail, so all she could see was a dark lump protruding above the water's surface. Gwen recoiled in shock as suddenly the lump shifted abruptly and an arm jerked above the water, flailing wildly for a moment as if trying to right what Gwen now realized was a body. The accompanying gasp was one she had heard many times before and Gwen forgot about the pain in her leg as she raced to the water's edge and plunged in.

The water was cold, but she was determined to swim to the body. She kicked hard and swam as best she could while injured, exhausted, and still wearing a denim jacket. She was grateful that she had not chosen the leather one today as she struggled to stay afloat. As she approached it, she realised that the person had begun taking rudimentary swipes, attempting to propel itself forward. The light from the moon glinted on brass buttons as an arm swung over, giving Gwen extra impetus to reach her target. She kicked harder and collided with the swimmer, smiling and laughing as she tilted his face upwards. Without thinking, she tangled her fingers in his hair and kissed him hard.

After several intense seconds, they separated to stop themselves sinking, and Jack laughed even though he couldn't see the colour Gwen had turned. "Well," he said in mock surprise, "if you're going to greet me that way every day, Miss Cooper, I may need extra pages for my social calendar." Gwen's colour deepened and she smacked Jack playfully on the arm, turning to swim back to shore so he couldn't see how embarrassed she actually was.

By the time they reached the shore a few minutes later, Gwen was exhausted and collapsed on the grassy bank. As the adrenaline rush wore off, her leg began to throb and she clutched at it, moaning with pain. Jack reached her quickly and looked at her with concern, watching as she chewed her lower lip and squeezed her eyes shut against the pain. Tears leaked out from the corners of her eyes as she clung to her leg.

He reached out and gently rubbed her hand, backing off as she gasped – whether from pain or fear, he wasn't sure. She opened her eyes and tried to smile, but it came out more like a grimace when a new jolt of pain lanced through her leg. "Gwen, what's happened?"

She took a deep breath and began to speak, the words coming raggedly as the pain ebbed and flowed. "The…the creature…it grabbed my leg." She stopped and took several heaving breaths, trying to compose herself. Jack watched silently, worried as her colour drained and her face went grey. "We killed it, Ianto and me," Jack smiled at this, proud of them, "but by then it had hold of my leg and I passed out in the SUV. I don't know what happened next, but when I came to, Ianto was helping me from the SUV…and I was ruining one of his suits." The pain subsided a bit and Gwen chuckled at the image. "He wasn't very happy." Jack smiled at that, almost able to hear Ianto's words in response.

"Where is Ianto, Gwen?" Jack looked exhausted, but wanted to get back to Ianto – partly because he was worried about the young man and partly because he wanted to go back to the Hub.

Gwen looked over her left shoulder into the darkness, searching for the shape of the SUV. "He was asleep in the back seat of the SUV when I left him." _You're very lucky, Jack, and I can see why you love him so much. Perhaps you should tell him. _Gwen searched Jack's face for any sign that he had heard her thoughts, but his face was a mask.

He stood abruptly and extended a hand to help her up. "Come on, then. Let's go find him." Gwen stood, wincing as pain shot through her leg again. "Lean on me, Gwen." He took her right hand and slid it around his waist, his left arm supporting her across her upper back. Together they slowly made their way toward the SUV, each appreciating the warmth and comfort the other offered.

When they reached the SUV, they peered in through the back window and saw Ianto still asleep across the back seat. Jack walked Gwen around to the passenger's side and paused, one hand extended toward the door handle. He looked down at her, his face an uncharacteristic mixture of emotions. "Jack? What's wrong?" Gwen's face bore an expression of worry and compassion, and she reached up to stroke his cheek tenderly. Jack stared into her hazel eyes, then quickly enveloped her in a passionate kiss, pushing her back against the SUV for support.

When they separated several seconds later, each was breathless. Jack leaned his forehead against Gwen's, breathing heavily and watching as her chest rose and fell in quick rhythm as she tried to recover. Her eyes were closed and mouth slightly open, and he was moving to kiss her again when her eyes snapped open. "Don't," she said quietly, holding up a hand between them. Jack looked hurt. "As right as it feels to kiss you, and as much as I know I love Rhys – but not like I love you" _Where did that come from and why does it sound familiar?_ "you have Ianto and I'm engaged to a man who put his life on the line because he loves me. That's so much more than I could ever ask." She smiled and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, then whispered, "Ianto is a lucky man. Let him know you think you're lucky, too."

Jack smiled a rueful smile and popped the door for her, closing it behind her once she was settled in the passenger's seat. He climbed in the driver's side, then looked at her and said, "I'm not sure I'm well enough to drive this, but you sure aren't, and if I wake Sleeping Beauty back there," he jerked his thumb toward the back seat, "he'll be more cross and cranky than a three year old who's lost his favourite toy."

"Besides," countered Gwen, "since when have you ever let anyone else drive when you've been in the SUV?" They smiled at each other, glad that the kiss – _that fabulous kiss_ – had not spoiled their relationship, and set off toward the Hub in a companionable silence.

A few minutes later, Jack smiled again, this time to himself, as the rhythmic snoring of his friends filled the car.


End file.
